Arsenal: Michael Carrick Is Not Part Of Midfield Overhaul

Michael Carrick has been linked with Arsenal for the fourth time in his career. Is it too late for the English defensive midfielder to switch allegiances?

According to reports the Mirror (yes, we know, not always reliable), Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick is being targeted by Arsene Wenger as a key part of the French manager’s midfield overhaul, planned for the 2016 summer.

According to the same article – which has since circulated all around the football transfer rumor mill – Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky are all likely to leave the club in the summer. This will make room for new players capable of revitalizing the Arsenal team.

The summer transfer window in 2016 could be planned two different ways for Arsenal. Those ways depend chiefly on the outcome of the Barclay’s Premier League title race. The Premier League is the true gauge of progress for the Gunners right now. Progress in the Champions League looks unlikely after their draw with Barcelona. An F.A. Cup win would be no improvement from the past two seasons, even though admittedly it would be nice.

Therefore, if Arsenal do not win the Premier League title this upcoming May – even if they finish in second by goal difference, for that matter – we may see players who came to the team in the hopes of pushing Arsenal forward to being title-winners have the desire to play somewhere else. The main players in that pool are Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, and perhaps Aaron Ramsey.

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If someone else wins the title, and any one of those players decide to leave, not only will Arsenal have to replace their rotation players, but they will have to also be looking at big money investments to revitalize their squad with more firepower. Granted, this will all be nulled if Arsenal do win. If that happens, chances are none of the star players will leave and the players departing will be replaced with ones that push the squad even further, in an attempt to retain the crown.

Either of those situations is possible. Which brings us to Michael Carrick, the subject of this transfer talk. At the moment, the most probable situation is that one or more of the aging central midfielders in Arsenal’s team will leave due to their inability to play at the same level as their teammates.

Having said that, the prospective new player is 34 years old. Not only that, he as also proved himself incapable of making a huge impact for his team. He has looked, at times, criminally slow with an equally slow partner, Bastian Schweinsteiger, in defensive midfield. Having said that, in addition to the fact that he is 34, why would he be the subject of interest from Wenger?

While that may have sounded like there was an easy answer, frankly there’s not. While Carrick has experience in the Premier League, and better tackling ability than Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini (though that’s not hard for a professional) he is not by any means the missing piece of the Arsenal team.